Chance Encounters
by elliot.and.jd.4eva1
Summary: A series of one-shots depicting cance encounters between Edward and Bella.
1. Chapter 1

Chance Encounters

Summary:  
>A series of one-shots depicting chance encounters between Edward and Bella.<p>

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><p>I mimed the words to the familiar song as I reluctantly sipped at the vile tasting liquid. Coffee, a vain attempt to wake myself up after a long night of little to no sleep. I looked at the clock and sighed heavily. Classes would begin in an hour. I would have to leave in about forty minutes to arrive on time. I sighed once again but halfway through it morphed into a yawn. I groaned and forced another gulp of the now cold and even more disgusting drink down my throat. It wasn't even doing any good, I was suffering for my good reason. My eyelids continued to droop. My head continued to pound. And the thought of the long day before me continued to make me groan loudly. I think I was frightening the other customers sitting around me just a tad. They'd given me a wide berth after the first torrent of frustrated groans and mumbling. I was far too exhausted to care.<p>

Perhaps I should go into the ladies' bathroom, fill one of the sinks with water and dunk my head into it. That would work, right? I shook my head, I was being completely ridiculous. A waitress approached my table with more than a little trepidation. My mumbling must have been louder than I'd thought. She gestured to the coffee pot in her hand, asking if I would like a refill. I glared at the pot. No way was I drinking that tar. Not again. My glare must have been more menacing than I'd realised because the poor girl scurried off, terrified. Shame, I thought, I would have liked a cup of tea. The coffee wasn't doing its job of waking me up so I may as well enjoy my hot beverage.

I glanced at the clock again. A further ten minutes had passed. I heaved yet another sigh and groaned another groan. More surreptitious glances from my fellow customers. They would really have to practice them. I didn't realise it until the intensity of their gazes increased, but I was, yet again, mumbling to myself, '' Stupid customers, stupid, disgusting, coffee, stupid no sleep. stupid tiredness, stupid, stupid. Stupid!'' Wow, one would think that a woman studying English literature would be able to think of a better adjective than 'Stupid', or even just another adjective. Well, there you go, that's what sleep deprivation can do to a person. Perhaps that was the reason they were staring, my overuse of the common adjective, 'stupid', as opposed to the fact that I was talking to myself. Maybe I should have stayed in bed today. I was starting to fear for my sanity.

My eyes traveled once again to the clock and I noted the time with surprise. My inner, and outer, I guess, monologues' rambling had killed another ten minutes, It was strange that I kept glancing at the clock every ten minutes. One would think I was doing it on purpose. I would have to leave in about twenty minutes to make it to class on time, and even that was pushing it. I tried desperately to think of way to wake myself up, any way. Coffee? Ugh, besides I already tried that, it didn't work. Food? My stomach turned at the suggestion; too tired. Sleep? Not an option, I'm afraid. Tea, that might work. Even if it didn't, it sounded absolutely delicious right now. My inner monologue didn't stop there, though. My inner Bella apparently didn't agree with me that sleep was not a viable option. Sleep, she screamed, sleep, sleep, SLEEP! No, I shook my head vigorously trying to shut the inner Bella out. Easier said than done, unfortunately.

A different waitress to the one before came to my table. She had brown hair and kind, brown eyes. I asked her as politely as I possibly could in my current state of exhaustion for a nice, steaming, strong, cup of coffee. She smiled and said that it would just be a moment. I guess I had succeeded, a little anyway. I thanked her when she brought me the tea. I took a sip and it was...glorious. My eyes began to droop even more, they were so very heavy. And this table, so very comfortable. I guess I could rest my eyes, just for a few moments. Then I would drink my tea and leave. I would feel all the better for it. I heard myself agree to this brilliant idea before allowing myself to be embraced by the ever comfortable arms of sleep.

I snuggled more deeply into my covers and pillows of my bed, never before had I realised what a luxury sleep was. I would never again take it for granted. I had a niggling suspicion that I was forgetting something, something, but what was it. Who cares, I would simply let myself be overtaken by the bliss of sleep. All of a sudden, I was violently jolted. I bolted upright, startled and disorientated. What had happened, who the hell was in my bedroom, who had awoken me from that wondrous sleep? I took in my surroundings, and remembered that I was not, in fact, in my bedroom. I was in a diner, not the cleanest diner either, a thought that caused me to wrinkle my nose in distaste as I realised I had been laying my head on the table. A man with auburn hair had rushed past me and thrown an apology behind, perhaps in the direction of the bathroom. I didn't know and I didn't particularly care. I found it quite rude to be honest. My gaze dropped and I realised with horror that I had been drooling, a pool of it collecting on the table top. I hurriedly grabbed a handful to mop up the mess, then another to clean it off my face. I glanced around to see if anyone had noticed. Perhaps a few had, from the glances they were shooting my way, causing a blush to creep up my neck. However, the vast majority of my fellow customers seemed oblivious. For that, I guess, I could be thankful.

I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window and sighed. My naturally unruly hair had jumped at the opportunity to further inconvenience me and looked something akin to a bird's nest. As I quite vainly tried to tame it, my gaze automatically, once again traveled to the clock. I almost slapped myself for my stupidity. Class. If I didn't leave now, I would be late. I gathered my things quickly, threw some money onto the table to pay for my drinks, and left the diner trying without success to make my hair look something like normal. I grudgingly admitted to myself that if it hadn't been for that, in my opinion, extremely rude man, I would have been extremely late for class.

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><p>I hope you enjoyed it. It may remain a one-shot, turn into a series of one shots, or even a fully-fledged story. At the momemt, it is an attempt to kill the writer's block that as been plaguing my other stories. Let me know what you think.<p>

As always, thanks for reading,  
>Kate.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Chance Encounters

Summary: A series of one-shots depicting chance encounters between Edward and Bella.  
>Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephanie Meyer. Therefore, it is not mine. :) Enjoy.<p>

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>The wind whipped my hair around my face, I spluttered repeatedly, attempting in vain to dislodge strands of hair from my mouth. Finally, I sighed, accepting that it was an exercise in futility, much like dressing one's bed. I pulled my coat more tightly around myself, trying without success to protect myself from the cold the bitter wind brought with it. I huffed, thinking that now would be the perfect time for a cup of coffee, if I actually drank the bloody stuff, that was. Which I didn't, unfortunately. It never failed to trigger my gag reflex. I was one of the few of my generation that simply loathed the stuff. It was a shame really. I was certain that it would come in quite handy whilst cramming late at night. I sighed. No matter.<p>A particularly nasty gust of wind caused a not insignificant amount of my own hair to lift into the air and slap me violently in the face. One would almost think that it had a personal grudge against me and was using the wind as the perfect excuse to exact its revenge. Well, maybe it would just be me that would think that.<p>

I adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder, thinking to myself that the walk home was taking an inordinately long time. Of course, that was simply due to the fact that it was blowing a gale and absolutely freezing. Time stops when you're cold and miserable. I looked up at the sky and found smug, grey clouds staring back at me. I could see them straining against the pressure being exerted by their heavy contents. It was only a matter of time before the heavens would open and I would be soaked through, not unlike a drowned rat. I would ask myself whether this day could get any worse, but I feared the ramifications of my hypothetical, silent question.

The aforementioned heavens then proceeded to open, hastening to perform the clearly very important task of soaking me to my underwear and then some. The bullet like rain seemed to sneer in derision at my pathetic and useless excuse for a jacket, which had been even less adept at keeping me dry than it had been at keeping me warm. Or perhaps that was just me?

My hat had made a valiant attempt at protecting me from the wind, but crumpled at the feet of the mighty rain. It was now plastered to my forehead, useless as my jacket. It now simply served to collect more moisture from the unforgiving and taunting sky. I had to be nearly home by now, it felt as though I had been walking for hours. As my teeth began to chatter, thoughts of warmth and bed and hot drinks and television and books caused a smile to tilt the corners of my mouth upwards. I imagined myself finally reaching my door, going inside, peeling off my wet clothes, which now felt like an uncomfortable, wet, slimy, second skin. I would then proceed to jump into my shower, turn the temperature up as high as it would go, and simply stand there until the water ran cold. Then I would pull on my most comfortable pair of pyjamas, fuzzy socks and have a nice cup of tea in front of the television. I was jolted from my fantasy by a roar of thunder and a flash of lightning across the sky. I then fully took in my surroundings for the first time in my journey home.

I was indeed close to home, mere minutes away, in fact. However, a cursory glance to the sky told me under no uncertain terms that I would have to get inside more quickly than that. Knowing my luck, and judging by the events of the day, it was not infeasible that I could be struck by lightning. Stranger things had certainly, and would continue to, happen. Thunder, well, 'thundered' and furious flashes of lightning darted across the sky, travelling closer by the second. I hurriedly ducked into a cafe partially nestled into a corner on the street. I had been in it a few times before, it was nice enough. At the moment though, I didn't really care. All I wanted was to get away from the dreadful, and potentially life threatening weather. Perhaps I was being a tad dramatic, just a smidgen. However, if anyone managed to get injured out there, it would undoubtedly be me.

I shook my head at my track record of foul luck. Coupled with my clumsy nature, I was, well, to put it somewhat delicately, screwed. I shook my wet hair I entered the door, not unlike a dog, I thought with a slight grimace. The dryness and warmth of the cafe was such that I simply stood there for a moment, basking in the lack of cold and wet. I must have stood there for longer than I had thought. A male throat was being cleared impatientlywaiting for me to move out of the way. I did so hurriedly, shooting an apologetic look to the owner of said throat. he simply nodded curtly, pulled up his collar as far as it would go, hunched his shoulders and prepared to venture out into the torrential weather. Was I imagining things, or did he just rolll his eyes at me? I think he did. They were a very strange shade of green. I shook my head, that wasn't important, and then I saw that he was gone. With little more than a flash of haphazard hair.

I shrugged my shoulders. If he was so moronic as to want to venture out into what seemed to be the eye of the storm, that was his problem. One thing was certain though, I would not be following him anytime soon. I then made my way to the counter to order a nice, steaming cup of tea, or perhaps hot chocolate? Anything but that evil, foul, drink coffee! Plus a slice of cake. Yes, a slice of cake would be nice. I recieved my order and then proceeded to the nearest table. I would look over some notes , perhaps read a book, and wait the strength if the weather to subside somewhat. Then I would venture out into the evening. However, for now, I was going to enjoy the pleasant feeling the hot liquid travelling down my throat, and my delicious, scrumptious cake.

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>Well, there's another chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I have received a number of hits and am extremely flattered that people are taking the time to read this. Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think. How else will I know?:) As always, thanks for reading, Kate <div> 


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